digitaltempest

I watched the movie first and loved it, so I knew I had to read the book. Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake to serve his 18-month sentence for a crime that he didn't commit. Each boy is required to dig a hole five feet high and five feet wide. The warden and the counselors say that it builds character, but Stanley knows better.

As far as young adult literature goes, a lot of it has been pretty forgettable, but in recent years, writers have started to give young adults more of a voice by making their books more complex and something to remember. I loved Holes for two reasons its complexity and its simplicity. The style was very simplistic, but Sachar managed to give it some complexity by intertwining three stories.

Since I saw the movie first, I already had faces for the names. Also, a lot of ambiguous things from the movie were explain in the book in better detail, such as why didn't Zero and Stanley get bitten by the lizards. I think I'm probably the only person who really wondered about that in the movie. Anyhow, great book. I won't be forgetting this any time soon. I'm sending this to my twelve-year-old cousin for her to enjoy.